Recent content by Joe Broady

The UK AAIB has released their report on a Spitfire belly landing in May 2025. "The aircraft had been flying for about 35 minutes when the pilot noticed a slight engine vibration. This was rapidly followed by a power loss. The pilot noted a distinct smell of fuel in the cockpit and suspected a...

The Turner Classic Movies channel has a lineup of military aviation movies Thursday Sept. 18. Toward the Unknown, Flight Command, The McConnell Story, Bombers B-52. That last is unusual in that the star (Karl Malden) plays a maintenance man, not a pilot. I understand this movie was released in...

According to The War Zone site, "Global Strike Command (AFGSC) has ordered an indefinite pause in the use of M18 pistols following a recent fatal incident at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming. This comes just two weeks after the disclosure of an FBI report that added to long-standing...

This Avweb article has some technical details. Main reason for dud bombs? Didn't impact nose first because tail fin assembly separated. I wonder how the EOD people analyze strike photos. How can you tell where a bomb landed but did not explode? Three bombs disarmed in Cologne At least the...

AAF Manual 51-126-6, "Pilots' and Flight Engineers' Training Manual for the Superfortress" (1945) says: "Airplane commander will enter the airplane, see that all ignition switches are off and signal the other crew members or the ground crew to pull the props through, provided the engines have...

The TV series Forensic Files has an episode on the murder of a former waist gunner in his home. When the killer was caught, there was a most unusual pistol in his possession. It was an ex-GI .45 auto with an obliterated serial number and magazine filled with antique cartridges headstamped UMC...

I've been reading the report on the 2015 T-28 crash that killed David Tokoph. Shortly after takeoff from Las Cruces the engine failed and the plane went down in a field. It looks like a survivable crash: no fire, wreck is upright, and cockpit appears intact. However, Tokoph sustained serious...

About 11 minutes into the video on this Grumman F3F page, the host (a retired Harrier pilot) explains the cartridge starter. He opens the breech in the left wheel well to show where the cartridge is inserted. Then he explains the gas when the cartridge fires goes into the intake manifold, enters...

It's true the original idea was to introduce the R-4360 at 2800 hp. But according to G.E. Armbruster ("History of the R-4360") it never happened because the new engine soon showed itself capable of a 3000 hp rating. Eventually the R-4360 had a 3800 hp rating in the C-124 with single stage...

On archive.org I came across a 1968 Army report on silencers. "This report presents physical and functional descriptions and acoustical evaluations of various domestic and foreign silencers and silenced small arms weapons. Included are cross-sectional drawings and external view photographs of...

As soon as I posted that I realized it was badly worded. It gives the impression a 50% cut in RCS reduces detection range by 84%. I should have said detection range is still 84% of the original range, i.e., not a big reduction.

I don't know the RCS of any plane, but the effect on range is easy. Look up "radar range equation" and you'll see detection range equals the 4th root of the product of several parameters, one of which is RCS. If you cut RCS in half but all other parameters are unchanged, detection range changes...

Postwar, the appearance of torquemeters and fuel flowmeters allowed more accurate control of mixture. For instance, the 1962 C-131 flight manual says, "as automatic carburetor operation will not permit the attainment of maximum precision in the control of fuel flow and mixture strength, and...

It's possible to use an image of the title page as the download link. I don't know how it's done, but I have seen someone do it and it's a big help. I some cases I already have the same basic manual but wouldn't mind getting a version from a different year.

From the November 1957 issue of the SAC magazine Combat Crew is this story of an RB-36 that lost its rudder during a practice bomb run. I've seen pictures of the rudderless B-36 in flight but this is the first I've seen about what happened. There were 27 on board because "this was the last month...